The present invention relates to conductive compositions, as well as articles and methods using conductive compositions.
Several solder containing compositions are known and used in the electronics industry. These solder containing compositions usually comprise a powdered metal alloy, fluxing agents, binders, and solvents for the binders. The most prevalent solder containing compositions comprise lead-tin (Pbxe2x80x94Sn) alloys and a fluxing agent. The fluxing agent is used to remove oxides that naturally form on the surface of the alloy powder, and the binder is used to hold the fluxing agent to the solder powder and/or provide a controlled amount of slump for those compositions which are intended to be screen printed. When these solder containing compositions are heated upon reflow, the solvents boil off as a vapor, and the binders and fluxing agents decompose, generating both gaseous byproducts and non-volatile residue. These solder containing compositions are often used to electrically connect the terminals of electrical components and integrated-circuit (IC) chips to printed circuit boards.
Other materials used to make such connections are metal-filled epoxy compositions. Copper or silver particles, usually less than 50 xcexcm in size, are used with an epoxy resin and curing agent. The particles usually comprise a high weight percentage of the composition, usually greater than 75% by weight. Upon heating, the epoxy cures to immobilize the metal particles in an electrical network which makes the desired electrical connection. Epoxy resins can include branched polymers having two or more epoxide functional groups. The curing agent such as an anhydride reacts with the epoxide group to form a polymer network. The curing rate of an epoxy can be increased by increasing the number of available reactive epoxy functional groups per resin molecule. One way of characterizing the number of epoxy groups per resin molecule is to measure the number of epoxy groups per weight of resin. This can be characterized as the epoxy xe2x80x9cequivalent weightxe2x80x9d of the resin. Epoxy functional resins having relatively higher rates of cure usually have equivalent weights of less than 200.
Other approaches for connecting electrical components to circuit boards include the so-called xe2x80x9canisotropic conductive filmxe2x80x9d (ACF) and the xe2x80x9canisotropic conductive materialxe2x80x9d (ACM). These approaches are similar in that they both use large spherical or cylindrical conductive bodies which are distributed in a thermosetting or thermoplastic polymer. They are different in that the ACF film is preformed in the form of a bonding sheet while the ACM material is a spreadable liquid. The conductive bodies may comprise metal or metal-coated polymeric materials, which are resilient and elastic. To use the ACM or ACF, the ACM or ACF is placed between an electrical terminal and a corresponding pad and is heated with the terminal being pressed against the pad. The terminal makes electrical contact to the pad through at least one conductive body, with excess polymer being squeezed away from the top and bottom of the body by the applied pressure. Upon heating, the polymer cures and changes from a liquid to a solid. Upon cooling, the polymer shrinks in the vertical direction, and thereby applies a contractive force between the terminal and pad, which in turn maintains pressure on the conductive bodies between the terminal and pad. The term xe2x80x9canisotropicxe2x80x9d arises because the conductive bodies only conduct electrical current vertically between the terminal and pad, rather than in all directions, as would be the case with a metal-filled epoxy.
The electrical connections provided by metal-filled epoxies, ACFs, and ACMs usually have higher electrical resistances than those provided by alloy solders (which, by nature, make metallurgic bonds to the terminal and pad). ACFs and ACMs are also known in the art to have long term reliability problems.
The present invention is motivated by a desire of the inventors to develop a multilayer lamination process in which several circuitized layers are laminated together to form a desired multilayer circuit substrate structure and in which electrical connections between circuitized layers are formed simultaneously with the lamination process. Because the layers are being laminated at the same time, and because one desires to make the electrical connections between layers, the heat and pressure applied to conventional solder containing compositions can generate significant amounts of gaseous byproducts and non-volatile residue. The gaseous byproducts can leave bubbles between the layers of the formed multi-layer circuit substrate and can potentially contribute to the delamination or failure of the substrate.
Metal-filled epoxies, ACFs and ACMs can instead be used to connect circuit layers. However, these joining materials have reliability issues, particularly if the resulting board underwent long periods of high thermal cycling (i.e., large swings in temperature over long periods of time) and/or humidity exposure. Moreover, metal-filled epoxies, ACFs and ACMs can have relatively high resistivities.
Embodiments of the invention are directed to the need of finding an electrical joining material which can be used in the above multi-layer lamination process and which can provide electrical connections which have higher reliability during thermal cycling, and lower resistance than metal-fill epoxies, ACFs, and ACMs. Other embodiments of the invention can be directed to favorable and less complicated methods for forming multi-layer circuit substrates.
The present invention encompasses conductive compositions which are capable of forming metallurgical bonds to metal terminals and metal pads and do not generate significant amounts of gaseous byproducts or non-volatile residue when processed. The present invention also encompasses articles and methods using the conductive composition.
One embodiment of the invention can be directed to a conductive composition comprising conductive particles in an amount of at least about 75 wt. % based on the weight of the composition. At least 50% by weight of the conductive particles can have melting points of less than about 400xc2x0 C. The composition may also include a carrier including an epoxy-functional resin in an amount of at least about 50 wt. % based on the weight of the carrier. The epoxy functional resin can have a viscosity of less than about 1000 centipoise at 25xc2x0 C., preferably less than about 600 centipoise at 25xc2x0 C. The carrier can also include a fluxing agent in an amount of at least about 0.1 wt % based on the weight of the carrier. The carrier may optionally include other materials.
Another embodiment of the invention can be directed to a method for forming a multi-layer circuit substrate. In particular, embodiments of the invention can be directed to the formation of a multi-layer circuit substrate having a reliable z-connection between conducting surfaces using the inventive conductive composition. A xe2x80x9cz-connectionxe2x80x9d can be a generally vertical electrical connection between conducting layers in substrates or multi-chip modules.